Probably the coolest part about this week was that on Tuesday we had the 6 week trainer/new missionary followup in Santa Clarita. It was such a great meeting! It really helped me get a bigger and better vision of what we can become and do as a companionship. They talked a lot about companionship inventory and what a special blessing that is and how if we really learn to do it well on the mission, it will be a blessing and it will make our future marriages stronger. They also talked about ways to deeply search the scriptures and how every time we study the scriptures and preach my gospel it should be like how the temple endowment is--how every time you go you learn something different and inique and beautiful that you needed at that point in your life. But what I probably loved most from the training was how I need to raise my vision even higher. Evidently Elder L Tom Perry told the mission presidents that (instead of having a goal of working toward 1 baptism per month) we need to work in such a way that even 1 baptism per week is possible. That requires a lot. You can't do things the same way and expect different results. So what that means for me is that I need to get myself really uncomfortable again. I need to never let myself settle into thinking that I am doing good enough because the truth is that there is so much more we can do! I'm not sure exactly how we're going to achieve that, but if an apostle said it, the Lord said it, so there must be a way.
One of the big things we changed this week was how we did weekly planning sessions. This was another specific thing that L Tom Perry said in that meeting that is a tool of how to be able to do more with the same time we are given. This was also what our zone training meeting was about last Friday. So we applied it. We went through line by line of the 13 steps of the weekly planning session and when it got to anything to do we said, "let's do that now" and we would take the time to plan and be completely obedient to everything Preach My Gospel says we need to do. So what did that mean? That meant that our weekly planning session took from Thursday until Saturday filling in all the times we hadn't already set appointments previously or had studies or meetings. It takes a lot longer when you have to leave and come back, so we completely blocked off all of Thursday for this coming week so that we can plan all day and hopefully finish it on Thursday this week. We were warned that the first few times doing the weekly planning session like this, it would probably take sooooo long (before, weekly planning sessions were probably only 3 or so hours long) but that the more practice we get doing it the right way the better we'll get and, more importantly, the more fruits we will see for our efforts. Our days are planned better and more centered on the individual people and their needs. Every single sentence is practically another opportunity to receive additional revelation for what we can specifically do to help the people progress. It is hard, but we do it because that is the Lord's way. And he has promised in Preach My Gospel that if we learn to master the techniques of goal setting and planning to achieve them we will be able to make a great difference in the results we attain in life (and on the mission). I want to master this on the mission so that when I am done I will have known I was a success, that I couldn't have done anything more within my agency to help others, and that I will get so much more out of my life by applying the principles of setting goals, making plans, and being accountable.
We are definitely in the middle of big changes and it will take some getting used to. But we are realizing that there is something more we need to do because we're not receiving all the results that we want. I guess this is really a big life lesson for me. Change is hard. It is hard to sit back and say that even though I thought I was doing my very best, more is required of me. Much more. I don't know how I will change it all, but I have faith that I know I am here for a special purpose and that the Lord will help our companionship become even more. That is what repentance is all about. It shouldn't be a scary thing. It is recognizing that I am a flawed human and I know I need help and so I need to and want to apply the atonement into my life.
Oh I guess one more quick thing is how we've decided that our companionship statement will be "Working on Angel's Time."
But yeah, wish me luck with all the changes. I am a little bit stressed, but at the same time I feel a peace that the Lord is pleased with my desires and my actions and that he will be right at my side helping me to do and say and become more.
I hope you're all having a fantastic week and it was wonderful to be able to see you yesterday!
~Hermana Whetten
This one needs a little explaination. Our mission nurse at the latest zone conference told us that we should vacuum our matresses. I don't understand why and I felt really silly doing it, but I did haha!
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